


RWBY Fairy Tales

by eeveelutiontrainer



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7572493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eeveelutiontrainer/pseuds/eeveelutiontrainer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team RWBY rewritten as their fairy-tale counterparts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ruby Rose Riding Hood

**Author's Note:**

> I thought it would be cool to put Team RWBY into their fairy-tale counterparts, so I wrote this. I looked up the most original versions of their stories I could find and rewrote them to fit. So it should be noted the writing is not 100% mine, more like a Frankenstein mix of the original stories and my own writing. Ruby and Weiss's fairy tales I found at http://germanstories.vcu.edu/ and Blake's I found at http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/beauty.html and Yang's I found at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/eft/eft19.htm

Once upon a time there was a dear little girl who was loved by everyone who looked at her, but most of all by her mother, and there was nothing that she would not have given to the child. Once she gave her a little cape of ruby red velvet, lovingly embroidered with bouquets of roses. When her mother died not long after, the little girl would never wear anything else so as to honor her mother’s memory. So she was called Ruby Rose.

One day her father said to her, "Come, Ruby Rose, here is a bouquet of summer roses. Take them to your mother’s grave, the last ones have wilted away. Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going, walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path, or you may fall and crush the roses, and then your mother will get nothing. And when you go to her grave, don't forget to say, hello mother, and don't trample all over it either."

“I will take great care,” said Ruby Rose to her father, and gave her hand on it.

Her mother’s grave was out in the wood, half a league from the village, and just as Ruby Rose entered the wood, a wolf met her. Ruby Rose did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him.

"Good-day, Ruby Rose," said he.

"Thank you kindly, wolf."

"Whither away so early, Ruby Rose?"

"To my mother’s grave."

"What have you got in your apron?"

"Summer roses. The flowers at mother’s grave have wilted away, so I am to replace them."

"Where does your mother lie, Ruby Rose?"

"A good quarter of a league farther on in the wood. Her grave lies at the edge of a cliff at the end of the forest. You surely must know it," replied Ruby Rose.

The wolf thought to himself, "What a tender young creature. What a nice plump mouthful, she will be better to eat than some old bones. I must act craftily, so as to get both." So he walked for a short time by the side of Ruby Rose, and then he said, "See Ruby Rose, how pretty the flowers are about here. Why do you not look round. I believe, too, that you do not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing. You walk gravely along as if you were going to school, while everything else out here in the wood is merry."

Ruby Rose raised her eyes, and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flowers growing everywhere, she thought, suppose I take some more, to make Mother’s grave especially pretty. That would please her. It is so early in the day that I shall still get there in good time. And so she ran from the path into the wood to look for flowers. And whenever she had picked one, she fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on, and ran after it, and so got deeper and deeper into the wood.

Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to the mother’s grave. “‘Thus kindly I scatter,’” the wolf read from the gravestone. “How poetic.” He hid himself behind the gravestone.

Ruby Rose, however, had been running about picking flowers, and when she had gathered so many that she could carry no more, she remembered her mother, and set out on the way to her grave.

She was surprised to find the grass trampled, and when she stepped forward, she had such a strange feeling that she said to herself, oh dear, how uneasy I feel today, and at other times I like being with mother so much.

She called out, "Hello, mother," cautiously. She heard nothing, so she went to the gravestone and carefully laid the flowers by it. It was then that she noticed that there was something strange about the gravestone.

"Oh, my," she said, "it seems there is fur on mother’s gravestone. Look, there are little ears poking up from behind it as well."

"The better to hear you with," the wolf said as he rose from behind the gravestone and smiled wickedly at Ruby Rose.

“What a terrible big mouth you have," Ruby Rose said.

"The better to eat you with."

And scarcely had the wolf said this, than with one bound he jumped over the gravestone to swallow up Ruby Rose. But when he landed, she was gone, and all that was left were scattered rose petals, red as rubies.

“Where did you go, Ruby Rose?” the wolf said. He looked around but could not see her.

“Here I am,” Ruby Rose said, stepping out of the forest into the clearing. Her hood had fallen off her head, revealing silver eyes and raven-black hair. From its place at her back, Ruby Rose took her rifle and pointed at the wolf.

“So this shall be more difficult than I thought,” the wolf said. “No matter, Ruby Rose, you are only a little girl.”

“You shall be surprised,” Ruby Rose said, “when you find out that a warrior will soon run wild.”

Ruby Rose fired her rifle, but the wolf moved out of its path and leapt at her. Once more, she was gone before he could catch her, leaving rose petals in her wake. When the wolf looked up, he saw Ruby Rose to his side, but now her rifle was a scythe, and its blade was as big as she was.

The wolf leapt once again, but this time Ruby Rose ran to meet him, ducking under his claws and beheading him with a swift slice of her scythe.

It is also related that once when Ruby Rose was again taking flowers to her mother’s grave, another wolf spoke to her, and tried to entice her from the path. Ruby Rose, however, was on her guard, and told him to leave her alone as she went straight forward on her way. But the wolf followed her to her mother’s grave, believing that Ruby Rose would be easy to catch and eat.

Ruby Rose pretended not to notice him as laid the bouquet of roses on her mother’s grave. The wolf, pleased with his luck, quietly snuck up behind Ruby Rose, but before he could leap to eat her up, she had her scythe in her hands. She spun around and cut the wolf clean in half, scattering blood as red as roses across the snow.

Ruby Rose went joyously home, and no one ever did anything to harm her again.


	2. White Snow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have this chapter written in German, too, if anyone's interested :P

Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat at a window sewing, and the frame of the window was made of strong oak. And whilst she was sewing and looking out of the window at the snow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell upon the snow. And the red looked pretty upon the white snow, and she thought to herself, would that I had a child with hair as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and strength as the wood of the window-frame.

Soon after that she had a little daughter, who had hair as white as snow, and lips as red as blood, and her cry was strong as oak, and she was therefore called Weiss Schnee. And when the child was born, the queen died.

As a year had passed the king grew bitter. His heart was heavy with grief, and not even his two lovely daughters could make him happy. He had a wonderful mirror, and when he stood in front of it and looked at himself in it, and said,

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,  
Who’s the loneliest of all?"

The mirror answered,

"Thou, o king, art the loneliest of all."

Then he was satisfied, for he knew that the mirror spoke the truth, and that no one in the land could feel the pain that he felt by the loss of his wife.

But Weiss Schnee was growing up, and grew more and more sullen and snappish, and when she was fourteen years old she was as quick to anger as a bear, and more selfish than the king himself. And once when the king asked his mirror,

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,  
Who’s the loneliest of all?"

It answered,

"Thou art lonelier than all who are here, my king.  
But more lonely still is Weiss Schnee, as it would seem."

Then the king was shocked, and turned red with anger. His wife was his to grieve, and Weiss Schnee, whose birth had killed her, had no right to feel so lonely because of her loss. From that hour, whenever he looked at Weiss Schnee, his heart heaved in his chest, he hated the girl so much. And his anger grew higher and higher in his heart like a weed, so that he had no peace day or night.

He called his elder daughter, Winter, and said, "Take the child away into the forest. I will no longer have her in my sight. Kill her, and bring me back her eyes as a token."

Winter knew something was wrong, but she said nothing and pretended to accept her father’s order.

Winter took Weiss away but when she had drawn her blade, Weiss’s piercing gaze struck through her, and she said, "What are you waiting for, Winter? Kill me."

“I cannot,” Winter said. “You are my sister. I brought you here so you could run, and I will lie to Father for your sake.”

And as a young bear just then came running by she stabbed it, and cut out its eyes and took them to the king as proof that Weiss Schnee was dead. The cook had to preserve them, and the wicked king kept them as a trophy, and thought he had obtained the eyes of Weiss Schnee.

And Winter, with one last look at her father after she gave him the bears’ eyes, left.

But now Weiss Schnee was all alone in the great forest, angry at her father, at her sister, at herself. Then she began to run, and ran over sharp stones and through thorns, and the wild beasts ran past her, but did her no harm.

She ran as long as her feet would go until it was almost evening, then she saw a little cottage and went into it to rest herself.

Everything in the cottage was neater and cleaner than can be told. There was a table on which was a white cover, and seven plates, and on each plate a spoon, moreover, there were seven knives and forks, and seven mugs. Against the wall stood seven beds side by side, and covered with snow-white counterpanes.

Weiss Schnee was so hungry and thirsty that she ate some vegetables and bread and drank some wine. Then, as she was so tired, she laid herself down on one of the beds, but none of them suited her, one was too long, another too short, but at last she found that the seventh one was right, and so she remained in it and went to sleep.

When it was quite dark the owners of the cottage came back. They were seven faunus who dug and delved in the mountains for Dust. They lit their seven candles, and as it was now light within the cottage they saw that someone had been there, for everything was not in the same order in which they had left it.

The first said, "Who has been sitting on my chair?"

The second, "Who has been eating off my plate?"

The third, "Who has been taking some of my bread?"

The fourth, "Who has been eating my vegetables?"

The fifth, "Who has been using my fork?"

The sixth, "Who has been cutting with my knife?"

The seventh, "Who has been drinking out of my mug?"

Then the first looked round and saw that there was a little hollow on his bed, and he said, "Who has been getting into my bed?"

The others came up and each called out, "Somebody has been lying in my bed too."

But the seventh when he looked at his bed saw Weiss Schnee, who was lying asleep therein. And he called the others, who came running up, and they cried out with astonishment, and brought their seven candles and let the light fall on Weiss Schnee.

"Oh, heavens, oh, heavens," cried they, "it’s a child."

And they did not wake her up, but let her sleep on in the bed. And the seventh faunus slept in a bundle of blankets on the floor, and so passed the night.

When it was morning Weiss Schnee awoke, and recoiled when she saw the seven faunus.

But they were friendly and asked her what her name was.

"If you must know, my name is Weiss Schnee," she answered.

"How have you come to our house?” said the faunus.

Then she told them that her father had wished to have her killed, but that her sister had spared her life, and that she had run for the whole day, until at last she had found their dwelling.

The faunus said, "If you help us with our work and grind the crystals we mine into Dust, you can stay with us and you shall want for nothing."

"I might as well," said Weiss Schee, "as I cannot return home." And she stayed with them.

She helped them keep the house in order, as much as she thought was necessary, which in truth was not very much at all. In the mornings they went to the mountains and looked for crystals of every hue, in the evenings they came back, and then they made their supper as Weiss Schnee ground crystals into Dust.

In the evenings, when the faunus returned home, they took the time to teach Weiss Schnee how to use a blade, should she ever need to defend herself while they were away mining. They forged her a rapier with a chamber for the magical Dust they made from the crystals. “It will do,” Weiss Schnee said by way of thanks, and she called the rapier Myrtenaster.

The girl was alone the whole day, so the good faunus warned her and said, "Beware of your father, he will soon know that you are here, be sure to let no one come in."

But the king, believing that he had Weiss Schnee’s eyes, could not but think that he was again the loneliest of all, and he went to his mirror and said,

"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall,  
Who’s the loneliest of all?"

And the mirror answered,

"Oh, king, thou art loneliest of all I see,  
But over the hills, where the seven faunus dwell,  
Weiss Schnee is still alive and well,  
And none is so lonely as she."

Then he was astounded, for he knew that the mirror never spoke falsely, and he knew that his eldest daughter had betrayed him, and that Weiss Schnee was still alive.

And so he thought and thought again how he might kill her, for so long as he was not the loneliest in the whole land, the sense that he had betrayed his wife by not mourning her enough let him have no rest. And when he had at last thought of something to do, he painted his face, and dressed himself like an old pedlar, and no one could have known him.

In this disguise he went over the seven mountains to the seven faunus, and knocked at the door and cried, "Pretty things to sell, very cheap, very cheap."

Weiss Schnee looked out of the window and called out, "What do you want?"

"Only to offer my wares," he answered, "stay-laces of all colors," and he pulled out one which was woven of bright-colored silk.

"May as well," thought Weiss Schnee, “as he may have something worthwhile after all,” and she unbolted the door and rummaged through the pedlar’s wares.

"Child," said the old man, "what a fright you look, come, let me give you some makeup to cover those bags under your eyes."

Weiss Schnee rolled her eyes but stood before him. But instead of makeup, the pedlar pulled a blade out from under his robes and lashed out at Weiss Schnee. The sword cut a scar across her left eye, and Weiss Schnee recoiled.

"You were the loneliest," the king said, and rushed forward to kill Weiss Schnee.

“How dare you!” Weiss Schnee said. She leapt aside to avoid a killing blow, and picked up Myrtenaster. With it, she parried the king’s next blow and pushed him back.

Not long afterwards, the seven faunus came home, but how shocked they were when they saw Weiss Schnee locked in combat with a pedlar. When they took up arms and rushed to Weiss Schnee’s aid, the king wisely turned and ran.

When the faunus heard what had happened they said, "The old pedlar was no one else than the wicked king, take care and let no one come in when we are not with you. Now quickly, let us tend to your wound, for surely the king’s blade was poisoned."

“Of course,” Weiss Schnee said, but she had hardly been listening.

The wicked man when he had reached home went in front of the glass and asked,

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,  
Who’s the loneliest of all?"

And it answered as before,

"Oh, king, thou art loneliest of all I see,  
But over the hills, where the seven faunus dwell,  
Weiss Schnee is still alive and well,  
And none is so lonely as she."

When he heard that, all his blood rushed to his heart with anger, for he saw plainly that, despite his poisoned blade, Weiss Schnee was alive.

"But now," he said, "I will think of something that shall really put an end to you." And by the help of his circle magic, he made a poisonous comb. Then he disguised himself and took the shape of another old man.

So he went over the seven mountains to the seven faunus, knocked at the door, and cried, "Good things to sell, cheap, cheap."

Weiss Schnee looked out and said, "Go away, I cannot let anyone come in."

"I suppose you can look," said the old man, and pulled the poisonous comb out and held it up.

It pleased the girl enough that she opened the door out of curiosity, but this time kept Myrtenaster close by her. The old man said, "Now I will comb you properly for once."

Before Weiss Schnee could react, the king stuck the comb into her hair. The poison in it took effect, and the girl fell down senseless.

"You paragon of loneliness," said the wicked man, "you are done for now.” And he went away.

But fortunately it was almost evening, when the seven faunus came home. When they saw Weiss Schnee lying as if dead upon the ground they at once suspected her father, and they took the poisoned comb from her hair. Scarcely had they taken it out when Weiss Schnee came to herself, and told them what had happened. Then they warned her once more to be upon her guard and to open the door to no one.

“Next time,” Weiss Schnee promised, “I shall kill him with Myrtenaster, and that will be that.”

The king, at home, went in front of the glass and said,

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,  
Who’s the loneliest of all?"

Then it answered as before,

"Oh, king, thou art fairest of all I see,  
But over the hills, where the seven faunus dwell,  
Weiss Schnee is still alive and well,  
And none is so lonely as she."

When he heard the glass speak thus he trembled and shook with rage.

"Weiss Schnee shall die," he cried, "even if it costs me my life."

Thereupon he went into a quite secret, lonely room, where no one ever came, and there he made a very poisonous apple. Outside it looked pretty, white with a red cheek, so that everyone who saw it longed for it, but whoever ate a piece of it must surely die.

When the apple was ready he painted his face, and dressed herself up as a farmer, and so he went over the seven mountains to the seven faunus. He knocked at the door.

Weiss Schnee put her head out of the window and said, "I cannot let anyone in."

"It is all the same to me," answered the man, "I shall soon get rid of my apples. There, I will give you one."

"No," said Weiss Schnee, "I will not take anything."

"Are you afraid of poison?" said the old man, "look, I will cut the apple in two pieces, you eat the red cheek, and I will eat the white."

“Enough, father,” Weiss Schnee said. “You have become a nuisance to me.” She opened the door and raised Myrtenaster so its point was level with her father’s eyes. “For your attempts on my life, you shall die.”

The king looked at her with a dreadful look, and laughed aloud and said, "Weiss Schnee, you cannot hope to best me, not while I have mastery over circle magic."

“I have learned much since you sent my dear sister to kill me,” Winter Schnee said. “And one of the things I have learned is that the circle magic that you have I have as well.”

She waved Myrtenaster and a circle of bright white light grew underneath the king, and with a thrust of her rapier Weiss Schnee made the circle throw her father high into the air.

In mid-air he pulled his blade from its sheath. He landed upright, hefting the heavy sword and waiting.

With the Dust of an Ice crystal, Weiss Schnee propelled herself forward, skating over the ground she had frozen. Her blade crossed her father’s and he pushed her back. The king struck at her in turn, but she evaded his blade’s path by skating underneath it.

Weiss Schnee lashed at her father quickly. The king parried every blow save one which landed on his shoulder. But instead of leaving a cut, Myrtenaster bounced off his arm with a metallic clang.

The battle paused abruptly. “You are not my father,” Weiss Schnee said.

“But I am,” the king said wickedly. “I am the grim darkness that your father’s soul has produced in his grief and his hate. I am a part of him, and thus, I am him.”

“You are not my father,” Weiss Schnee said again. 

“You are right, Weiss Schnee,” said a voice. From behind Weiss Schnee came Winter, who was likewise carrying a blade filled with Dust. “I discovered that the man before us was false not long ago. I have found our true father, and now we must kill his shadow.”

“You may try,” the shadow said.

“We will succeed,” Winter said in return.

Winter and Weiss Schnee used Dust to strengthen their blades, and with their swords full of magic they leapt at their father’s shadow. He tried to evade, but Winter’s circle magic trapped him and made it so he could not move. 

Weiss Schnee drove Myrtenaster through the shadow’s chest, and he screamed once before he shattered into pieces of mirror and fell apart into dust.

“He trapped your father in the mirror,” Winter told Weiss Schnee. “Quickly, we must return home to free him.”

“Why could you not do that yourself?” Weiss Schnee asked.

“My own magic was not enough,” Winter said. “Come, we must hurry.”

Winter took Weiss Schnee to their father’s mirror. “Look, the incantation is written upon it,” Winter said. “Make haste, we must speak it to free our father.”

Winter and Weiss Schnee joined their hands and spoke:

“Mirror, mirror, what’s behind you?  
Release the one that I can see.  
You won’t keep him from the world,  
Give us he who lies within thee!”

A circle of white magic appeared upon the floor before the mirror, and within it appeared Weiss Schnee and Winter’s father, healthy and whole.

“I thank you, my daughters,” he said. “I let my grief turn my heart to stone, but now you have saved me and I am whole again.”

And with the burden of their grief lifted, the family lived happily ever after.


	3. Beauty Is the Beast

There was once a young girl, who lived on her own in a small cottage at the edge of a town, as she had no family to speak of. But the young girl was no ordinary girl. She had black cat ears atop her head, and so for as long as she could remember, everybody shunned her, and called her "The little Beast". She paid them no mind, and called herself instead Blake Belladonna.

Blake kept to herself because the townspeople hated her so much, and she did not want to anger them. She spent her time reading the books that the kind librarian would bring to her. She also grew deadly nightshade by her cottage, not for its poison, but for its beautiful flowers. And so Blake Belladonna lived in peace.

One day, a mysterious illness took hold of the town, and soon half the townspeople had fallen ill. No doctor knew how to cure it. The townspeople who remained in good health cried, “It’s the little beast! She must be a witch! We must kill her to save the town.”

And so the townspeople gathered kitchen knives and pitchforks and torches and marched to Blake Belladonna’s house one stormy night. They shouted angrily as they came.

Blake knew they were coming before she saw them, as she could hear them with her cats’ ears. She had heard of the town’s illness and knew that the townspeople blamed her for the plague. But she was frightened for her life, as she knew she could not escape all the townspeople once they attacked. So she shrouded herself in a black cloak, took her katana, and fled.

As she ran through a large forest she lost herself. It rained and snowed terribly; besides, the wind was so high, that it threw her twice off her feet, and night coming on, she began to apprehend being either starved to death with cold and hunger, or else devoured by the wolves, whom she heard howling all round her, when, on a sudden, looking through a long walk of trees, she saw a light at some distance, and going on a little farther perceived it came from a palace illuminated from top to bottom. Blake returned her luck thanks for this happy discovery, and hastened to the place, but was greatly surprised at not meeting with anyone in the outer courts. She walked towards the house, where she saw no one, but entering into a large hall, she found a good fire, and a table plentifully set out with but one cover laid. As she was wet quite through with the rain and snow, she drew near the fire to dry himself. "I hope," said she, "the master of the house, or his servants will excuse the liberty I take; I suppose it will not be long before some of them appear."

She waited a considerable time, until it struck eleven, and still nobody came. At last she was so hungry that she could stay no longer, but took a fish, and ate it in two mouthfuls. After this she drank a few glasses of wine, and growing more courageous she went out of the hall, and crossed through several grand apartments with magnificent furniture, until she came into a chamber, which had an exceeding good bed in it, and as she was very much fatigued, and it was past midnight, she concluded it was best to shut the door, and go to bed.

It was ten the next morning before Blake woke, and as she was going to rise she was astonished to see a good suit of clothes in the room to replace her own, which were quite spoiled. She looked through a window, but instead of snow saw the most delightful arbors, interwoven with the beautifullest flowers that were ever beheld. She then returned to the great hall, where she had supped the night before, and found some chocolate ready made on a little table. "Thank you," said she aloud, "for being so careful, as to provide me a breakfast; I am extremely obliged to you for all your favors."

Blake drank her chocolate, and then went to look go outside, but passing through an arbor of roses she stopped to admire them, and heard such a crack of a twig behind her, that she prepared her sword and was ready to fight.

"Peace," said the man behind her, in a calm voice; "We are alike, you and I. Because of this, I have saved your life by receiving you into my castle." Indeed, the man had bull’s horns upon his head, like Blake had cat ears upon hers.

“My name is Adam" said he, "and you are welcome to stay as long as you wish."

“I thank you,” Blake said to him. “You see, I was made to flee from my home by the townspeople who believe I have brought a plague upon their village.”

“A pity to hear,” said Adam. “But here you will face no such troubles.”

By lunchtime the two had returned to the castle. “The room you slept in shall be yours while you stay here,” said Adam. “I have arranged it to be furnished to suit you.”

He led her to a door. She opened it hastily, and was quite dazzled with the magnificence that reigned throughout; but what chiefly took up her attention, was a large library, a harpsichord, and several music books. From the library Adam took a book and gave it to her. Blake read these words, in letters of gold:

Welcome Blake, and banish fear,  
You are queen and mistress here.  
Speak your wishes, speak your will,  
Swift obedience meets them still.

“I am honored,” Blake said. “I thank you, Adam, for your gracious hospitality.”

“It is my pleasure,” Adam said.

At noon she found dinner ready, and while at table, was entertained with an excellent concert of music, though Adam would not say whence it came. "Blake," said he, "will you give me leave to see you sup?"

"That is as you please," answered Blake.

"No," replied Adam, "you are mistress here; you need only bid me gone, if my presence is troublesome, and I will immediately withdraw."

"That is true," said Blake, "but I do not mind your presence. It is nice to be in the company of someone like me."

"I feel the same," said Adam. "Eat then, Blake, and endeavor to amuse yourself in your palace, for everything here is yours, and I should be saddened if you were not happy."

"You are very obliging," answered Blake, "I own I am pleased with your kindness."

"Yes, yes," said Adam, "my heart is good, but still I am called a monster."

"Among mankind," said Blake, "there are many that deserve that name more than you or I; those who, under a human form, hide a treacherous, corrupt, and ungrateful heart."

"True," replied Adam, "for only those who shun others for their appearance are the true monsters."

Blake ate a hearty supper, and had almost felt fully at home; but she had like to have run away, when Adam said to her, "Blake, will you join me in battle against humankind?"

She was some time before she dared answer, for she did not care to make him angry, if she refused. At last, however, she said, "No, Adam." Immediately he went to sigh, and hissed so frightfully, that the whole palace echoed. But Blake paid no mind, for she could easily defend herself, and Adam said, in a mournful voice, "then farewell, Blake," and left the room; and only turned back, now and then, to look at her as he went out.

When Blake was alone, she felt a great deal of understanding for Adam. "Alas," said she, "for I know why Adam should want to battle humans, although I could not harm innocent lives."

Blake spent three months very contentedly in the palace. Every evening Adam paid her a visit, and talked to her, during supper, very rationally, with plain good common sense; and Blake daily discovered some valuable qualifications in him, despite his strange request. There was but one thing that gave Blake any concern, which was, that every night, before she went to bed, he always asked her, if she would join him in battle against humanity. One day she said to him, "Adam, you make me very uneasy, I wish I could consent to aid you, but I could never cause harm to innocent lives, human though they may be."

"I see," said Adam, "but know that it would not be my intention to harm innocent lives either."

Blake considered these words. "I could," answered she, "indeed, promise never to hurt those who have done no harm, but to hunt only those that have shunned our kind."

"I had rather die myself," said Adam, "than give you the least uneasiness. I will agree to your terms."

"I am glad," said Blake, "but I should first return home, for my stores of Dust I left behind in my flight, and I should need them if I am to fight properly."

"I had rather die myself," said Adam, "than give you the least uneasiness. I will send you to your home."

Said Blake, “I give you my promise to return in a week."

"You shall be there tomorrow morning," said Adam, "but remember your promise. You need only lay your ring on a table before you go to bed, when you have a mind to come back. Farewell Blake." Adam sighed, as usual, bidding her good night, and Blake went to bed sad at seeing him so afflicted. When she waked the next morning, she found herself at her home, and in her luck the townspeople had let it be when they found she was not in it. 

In the meantime, Blake could not help reflecting on herself, for the uneasiness she was likely to cause poor Adam, whose company she sincerely enjoyed, and really longed to see again. The tenth night she spent at her home, she dreamed she was in the palace garden, and that she saw Adam extended on the grass plat, who seemed just expiring, and, in a dying voice, reproached her with her ingratitude. Blake started out of her sleep. "Am I not very wicked," said she, "to act so unkindly to Adam, that has studied so much, to please me in everything? He is kind and good to me, and that is sufficient. Why did I refuse to aid him? I should be happier with him than the horrid townspeople. But he means to harm the innocent, he has told me of his plans. I cannot be a part of this." Blake having said this, rose, took the ring Adam gave her, and went outside to the well. She looked down into its dark waters and held her hand over it. She took a breath and dropped the ring and watched it sink down into the murky depths.

“Goodbye, Adam,” she said, and she knew she should never see him again.


	4. Blondie and the Three Bears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was arguably the hardest story to edit

Once upon a time there was a girl, who had hair as gold as the sun, and her name was Yang Xiao Long. She lived with her father and her step-sister in a little cottage in a village. One day her sister went out to deliver flowers to her mother’s grave. The hours stretched on until Yang became quite worried that something had happened to her sister. So she went out into the wood to find her.

Yang called and called for her sister, but heard no reply. Instead her cries disturbed the creatures in the wood, among which were two sleepy bears. One was a great, huge bear, and the other a middle-sized bear, and neither were happy to have been woken from their slumber. So they went out to find the girl who had awoken them.

Yang heard rustling in the brush, and, thinking it might be her sister, went to look. Instead she came across the two angry bears. In her shock she leapt back, but she was prepared. Upon her wrists she wore magical gauntlets, making her fists strong as steel and her blows strong as a hammer’s. She knocked the two bears down with two mighty blows, and they did not get up again.

By this time Yang was quite tired. After walking a while more she came across a little cottage in the wood. First she looked in at the window, and then she peeped in at the keyhole; and seeing nobody in the house, she picked the lock and lifted the latch. She did not know that the cottage belonged to a man named Hei Xiong. So Yang opened the door, and went in; and well pleased she was when she saw some porridge on the table. If she had been a good girl, she would have waited till Hei Xiong came home, and then, perhaps, he would have asked her to breakfast; for he was good – a little rough or so, as the manner of his was, but for all that very good-natured and hospitable. But Yang was an impudent girl, and set about helping herself.

She went to the porridge of Hei Xiong, and tasted that; and that was neither too hot nor too cold, but just right; and she liked it so well that she ate it all up: but she said a bad word about the little porridge-pot, because it did not hold enough for her.

Yang sat down in the chair of Hei Xiong and that was neither too hard, nor too soft, but just right. So she seated herself in it, and there she sate till the bottom of the chair came out, and down she came, plump upon the ground. And Yang said a wicked word about that, too.

She went upstairs into the bed-chamber in which Hei Xiong slept. And she lay down upon his bed, and that was neither too high at the head nor at the foot, but just right. So she covered herself up comfortably, and lay there till she fell fast asleep.

By this time Hei Xiong thought his porridge would be cool enough, so he came home to breakfast. “Somebody has been at my porridge, and has eaten it all up!” said Hei Xiong.

Upon this, seeing that someone had entered their house, and eaten up the his breakfast, Hei Xiong began to look about him. “Somebody has been sitting in my chair and sat the bottom out of it!” said Hei Xiong.

Then he thought it necessary that he should make further search; so he went upstairs into his bed-chamber. And when Hei Xiong came to look at his bed, there was the bolster in its right place, and the pillow in its place upon the bolster; and upon the pillow was Yang’s head – which was not in its place, for she had no business there.

“Somebody has been lying in my bed – and here she is!” said Hei Xiong.

When Yang heard the voice of Hei Xiong it awakened her at once. Up she started; and when she saw Hei Xiong on one side of the bed, she tumbled herself out at the other, and stood up at once. Now the window was open, because Hei Xiong, like the good, tidy man as he was, always opened their bed-chamber window when he got up in the morning. But he was not pleased to find a stranger in his house, and so he took hold of the club he kept and swung it at Yang.

Yang’s first blow broke the club in half, and with the second she knocked Hei Xiong out through the window. She jumped out after him. He lay on the ground and did not move, but he groaned and Yang knew he was alive.

And then out of the wood came Yang’s sister, who looked surprised to see her there. “What are you doing here?” her sister asked. “Were you not at home today?”

“I was looking for you!” Yang said. “Come, let us go home. Father must be worried.”

And the two made their way through the wood back to the village, and Hei Xiong never saw anything more of Yang Xiao Long.


End file.
